Electricity

A 28-year-old single mother from Wheaton was charged today with criminal neglect of a disabled person and endangering the life of a child after her two young daughters were found unattended in a "roach infested" apartment by police in the middle of the night, authorities said. Arezou Khamiss, 28, of the 1300 block of North Main Street, had her bail set at $30,000 today by DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan. Assistant State's Attorney Mary Cronin told Brennan that a...

Walgreen Co. announced today it will install charging stations for electric vehicles as part of a Chicago-area public charging infrastructure rollout led by California-based 350Green LLC. Already, more than 150 private charging stations have been installed throughout the city, and an additional 280 public charging stations have been announced for the Chicago area. Walgreens is the first company is the first retail partner to formally announce its participation in the $8.9 million...

Electricity bills for Commonwealth Edison customers should fall by about 7.5 percent in the wake of the first power purchase completed this week by a state agency. The average residential customer's monthly electricity bill will decline by about $6.36 beginning in June, when new wholesale power contracts take effect, ComEd said Friday. "We think this is very good news for consumers," said David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, a consumer watchdog group.

The CTA will purchase two all-electric buses to conduct a year-long performance test, officials said today. The pilot project, funded by a $2.2 million federal grant, is aimed at determining how far the vehicles can travel on a charge under the weight loads and weather conditions in Chicago, said Paul Volpe, CTA vice president of budget and capital finance. The CTA plans to buy two 35- or 40-foot buses, Volpe said. He said electric buses are being used in other cities, including Austin and San...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it activated today a new electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville designed to keep Asian carp from migrating to Lake Michigan. It was completed a year ahead of schedule, the corps said. Because of the electric discharge, the corps warned boaters to use "extreme caution" while traveling between river mile markers 296.1 and 296.7. It is dangerous to enter the water or place hands...

Electricity has been fully restored to nearly 2,000 Commonwealth Edison customers in northwest suburban Elmwood Park. Officials are investigating the cause of the 7 p.m. outage that affected 1,900 customers in a rectangular swath of the suburb. The outage area was between North and Fullerton avenues and from North 72nd Court to 78th Avenue, ComEd spokeswoman Marie Turrell said. Power was restored to all of the customers by 8:42 p.m., Turrell said. -- Staff...

SPRINGFIELD --- ComEd is offering cash-strapped state government leaders $500 million upfront in exchange for a profit guarantee in future years centered around electrical rates. State lawmakers greeted the idea with skepticism today amid concerns the utility was trying to take advantage of the state's growing budget deficit to lock in profits when the future cost of electricity to consumers is expected to decline. Read more on Clout Street at chicagotribune.com ...

A fire broke out at Midwest Generation, a coal-fired electrical power plant in Joliet, about 8 a.m. today. No injuries were reported. The lube oil fire was confined to a turbine used to generate power, East Joliet Fire Department Chief Robert Scholtes said. The fire did not force any reduction in electricity output, he said. Working with a Midwest Generation crew, firefighters were able to put out the fire with a dry chemical and water by 10:30 a.m., Scholtes said. -- Erika Slife

Jim Dalton looks over damage and debris today after overnight storms tore through the area near 1010 Jorie Blvd. in Oak Brook. (Antonio Perez/Tribune) Some 310,000 Commonwealth Edison customers lost power in storms Wednesday, and 56,000 were still without it by about 4 p.m., the utility said. The current outages broke down this way: 16,000 in Chicago; 19,000 in the near west suburbs; 9,000 in the south suburbs; 5,000 in the north suburbs, and 6,000 in the western suburbs.

An electrical fire damaged a Robbins home this morning, but no one was hurt, officials said. The fire started in the attic of the single-family house near 134th Street and Sacramento Avenue in the south suburb about 5 a.m. The fire was put out two hours later. Fire officials believe water seeped into the roof and dripped onto electrical wires in the attic, said Robbins Fire Department Asst. Chief Michael Jones. The fire spread to other areas of the home, but the attic appeared to sustain...

An inbound Metra Electric train hit and killed a pedestrian on the Blue Island branch this morning, officials said. Commuter traffic was stopped in both directions. Train No. 202 hit the person about 5:45 a.m. at 123rd Street and Marshfield near the Ashland station in south suburban Calumet Park, said Metra spokesman Tom Miller. The victim was not immediately identified. That person's sex and age also weren't known. Train No. 202 resumed its run about 55 minutes later, but all...

Firefighters this afternoon were at a West Side gear company, where officials believe an electrical malfunction filled the building with smoke. No injuries were reported at the incident at Chicago Gear in the 2800 block West Fulton Street. Early reports indicated that a power surge in one of the company's electrical rooms led to the building filling with smoke, though no flames were present, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said. ComEd crews had...

Two Metra trains were delayed this afternoon when an electrical fire broke out on the Union Pacific Northwest line near the Irving Park station, officials said. No injuries were reported. The fire started about 1:30 p.m., according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. Train No. 644, scheduled to arrive downtown at 1:33 p.m. was operating about 40 minutes behind schedule, according to Metra's Web site. Train No. 619, scheduled to arrive in Harvard at 3:20 p.m. was...

Chicago firefighters extinguished a small electrical fire this morning in a CTA agent's booth at the Green Line's Roosevelt Road "L" station, a Fire Department spokesman said. Firefighters were called to the station at 22 E. Roosevelt Rd. about 10 a.m., said Fire Department spokesman Quention Curtis. He said no one was hurt. The Fire Department responded to the call at the ground level of the station, not the elevated portion, said Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman...

An inbound Metra Electric train hit and killed a pedestrian on the Blue Island branch this morning, officials said. Commuter traffic was stopped in both directions. Train No. 202 hit the person about 5:45 a.m. at 123rd Street and Marshfield near the Ashland station in south suburban Calumet Park, said Metra spokesman Tom Miller. The victim was not immediately identified. That person's sex and age also weren't known. Train No. 202 resumed its run about 55 minutes later, but all...

Walgreen Co. announced today it will install charging stations for electric vehicles as part of a Chicago-area public charging infrastructure rollout led by California-based 350Green LLC. Already, more than 150 private charging stations have been installed throughout the city, and an additional 280 public charging stations have been announced for the Chicago area. Walgreens is the first company is the first retail partner to formally announce its participation in the...

A fire broke out in an electrical vault at a 52-story building on the Near North Side this afternoon, according to the Chicago Fire Department. No one was hurt and no evacuations were ordered because of the fire, which started around 3 p.m. at 1 W. Superior St. and was extinguished within minutes. Fire Department spokesman Richard Rosado could not say what caused the fire or whether anyone lost electricity. -- Staff report